Dirt and Blood
by BigMammaLlama5
Summary: Death is always unkind- and covered in dirt and blood is the least of your worries when you're sending someone special up to the heavens. But sometimes, all you need is just a little comfort to take a step in a new direction... Oneshot, Lara/Samantha, prequel to Coconut Rum.


**Author's note, feel free to skip!**

Hello, you beautiful people! I'm back! I did much better this time, only letting a few months pass instead of YEARS. Augh. But I have another one-shot almost finished and I'll post that next week I believe. Just to be evil. Hahahaha

Anyways, this little oneshot is based DURING the Tomb Raider reboot game, specifically during the funeral pyre cut scene. It takes place in the same universe that Coconut Rum is based in, so please treat this as a prequel. I really should have written and published this one first, but I honestly couldn't help myself. 8D

I don't think I have to explain anything else, but if you have questions, do feel free to shoot me a PM or something. I'm usually much better about answering you all than I am actually posting. Ahaha

Oh, one last thing! If you find any mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct them. Please and thank you!

**Takes place after 2013 Tomb Raider Reboot, characters WILL be slightly OOC.**

**Rated M for reference to violence, sexual innuendo, and some reference to disturbing imagery. THIS IS YOUR WARNING. Be responsible and don't read this if you aren't into lesbian lady loving and stuff. And again, please be respectful about it.**

**I OWN NOTHING I'M A POOR ART SCHOOL GRADUATE. So don't sue me Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix… Though I would STILL LOVE to have one of the Promo Tees, size medium. I will sell you my soul! D:**

Dirt and Blood

The horrid acrid smoke of Roth's funeral pyre burned the noses and already watery eyes of the remaining five survivors gathered around it. Their hearts ached for the now charred corpse of a man well respected and well loved, in some cases more than others. They had already decided that the run down PT boat on the beach was their best bet to escape. There was no other way off… at least not one that they could immediately find. But Lara was devastated and negative, shooting down every suggestion or semi-positive comment.

"_I'm not dying here!_ I'm fixing that boat and we're leaving!_"_ Reyes spat angrily, dark eyes glistening with unshed tears and anger. Her jaw clenched shut tightly, the cords in her neck standing out in relief against the dark shadows. She stormed away, boots crunching angrily over the dirt and grass.

Lara turned to her right, anchored by Samantha holding onto her left arm. "You _know_ this island isn't right, Jonah. I _know_ you do." She pleaded, the large man turned back to her after taking a step in the direction Reyes disappeared in.

"All I know is that we can't use logic to understand this place." He reasoned, shuffling over into front of the two young women, his large frame dwarfing them.

"I know you think your instincts are a weakness… But they're a _strength_." He emphasized by first pointing to her heart, and then to the center of his own broad chest.

"_Trust them_. We need you, Lara." Alex put his back to Roth, "The big man's right."

Lara took a hold of Sam's hand and let it dangle between them, their fingers laced unconsciously. "…I can't leave him yet… I need time." She finished in a voice, heavy laden with grief and guilt. Both Alex and Jonah nodded in understanding and left without another word, thankfully providing the space that was needed. The young archaeologist turned to watch them go, her fingers still linked with her best friend's.

"You know where we'll be." Sam took both of Lara's dirty, bandaged hands in her own. "Come down when you're ready. We won't go _anywhere_ without you."

Samantha pulled the hurting woman into her arms and held her in a tight embrace, patting Lara gently on the back. Lara squeezed Sam tightly, holding the hitch in her chest back for as long as she could. They both smelled and felt terrible, but there was only so much they could do. Lara's side ached dully and she just knew it was going to get infected. She sniffed thickly as they finally pulled apart, and without rethinking herself, the heavy eagle pistol was tugged out of the grime-encrusted leather holster and held out to Sam with the muzzle pointing to the ground.

"Keep this close." She urged, grateful when Sam took it without hesitating.

The young video artist nodded in acceptance and squeezed Lara's left bicep in support, leaving her best friend to grieve. But even though Sam was entirely exhausted she didn't go to sleep. She chose to sit up at the campfire and wait up for Lara to come down. Hours seemed to pass, and Sam didn't know exactly how long she sat on the half-rotted log that Jonah and Alex had pulled from the brush, but the quiet sobs that had carried over the crackling pyre and down the hill had ceased quit a while ago. She couldn't decide if it was okay to check on Lara or not, so she remained seated, refusing to sleep. The gun was awfully heavy in her tired hands. Greasy and cold, like many of the men hunting for them. How Lara could load and unload this thing was beyond her, it was incredibly hard for her to rack the slide. The woman was so incredibly strong, yet they could all see the thin shreds of her sanity barely holding her together. In fact, Sam was sure that if the death of Roth wasn't the final straw that broke Lara's back, it was sure to come soon. Hopefully never... But stuck on Yamatai being hunted by a fucking crazy dude and his cohort of just as fucked up minions? Yeah, not a very good chance in hell…

Samantha sighed softly again and delved into her memories, dragging out all of the good times that the two girls had experienced together. Their shenanigans in their dorms and apartments, the long and adventure-filled shopping trips, the vacations to crazy places, the jokes, the quickly growing and utterly _British_ cheeky attitude that crept into Lara's demeanor when she teased Sam, Sam's retaliation of pranks and hidden cameras, and how her feelings were _dangerously_ straying into deeper waters for her best friend. Waters that she was sure not even the supposedly former strait-laced Lara detected with how immersed she was in her schooling and then her work. (Sam used the word 'supposedly' generously, since she had 'accidentally' stumbled upon Lara and a female colleague in the Library stacks standing a little too close together…) Maybe she would tell her some day. Maybe she wouldn't. But either way, Sam decided that she would try her hardest to figure out Lara's… She thought _preference_ would be the correct term.

"Sammy, you should sleep." Came a mumble from the large dark lump to her left in the ferns surrounding their small camp.

"I'm sorry Jonah, I can't. Not with her still up there by herself."

"How about this," he rolled over and peered up at her through the dark. "Go and check on her one more time, then come sleep for a bit."

Samantha felt his gaze on her, as well as Alex's who was out to their right in a tree keeping the first watch. Reyes didn't move and Sam hoped to God that she was asleep. She straightened her shoulders and nodded in a resolution she didn't have and then heaved herself to her tired feet, unconsciously brushing off the back of her formerly white jeans. She checked to make sure the safety on the Eagle was off and then trudged her way back up the stone steps in the dark. Her boots scuffed on the old moss covered granite, muffing her steps. She made sure to make some noise though so Lara would hear her coming. Sam thought she would never make it to the top of the stairs, the dwindling light from Roth's pyre dimly outlining the last step.

As the pyre came into her line of sight, Sam spotted the hunched form of Lara. She was sitting in the dirt with her legs pulled up into her chest, and her head buried in her arms that encircled her knees. The beat-up trench gun lay on the ground next to her hip fully loaded and ready to be fired at any attackers that might find them. Sam felt her heart sink when her bleary eyes registered a tremble in Lara's shoulders. She didn't bother to hold back a sigh, trying to get rid of some of her own heartbreak as she took that first difficult step towards her best friend. Lara must have know it was her before she had reached the top step, because she didn't movie an inch as she carefully approached her. Before she knew it, Sam was standing over Lara. The young archaeologist-turned-survivor raised her gaze up, the fire casting her dirty face into a ghastly and twisted vision of grief. The harsh tear tracks on her cheeks reflected brightly against her darkened skin. Her hazel eyes were dull and dark in their sockets and Sam thought they looked dead.

"Sam… it hurts…" She whimpered.

And with that lonely confession Sam dropped to the ground, placed the pistol beside the shotgun, and wrapped her arms tightly around Lara's now violently shaking shoulders. She pressed into Lara's body and tried to cocoon her with her arms and shoulders, wanting to complete wrap herself around the young woman but too afraid to do so… lest she think something odd of her behavior. So Sam held on and pressed her cheek into Lara's left shoulder, ignoring the thick smell of blood and dirt and sweat that both of them reeked of… Lara more than Sam and she didn't want to think why. She allowed the hot tears to escape down her pale checks and run onto Lara's heated skin.

She held her. She continued to hold her when she shifted and crawled in between her legs and buried her hot face twisted in grief into the crook of her neck. She held her until she stopped crying and her shoulders ceased to shake. But Lara didn't let go, her arms tightly wrapped around Sam's middle with her leather jacket pushed haphazardly to the side. Her long legs were slung over Sam's left thigh and her forehead pressed to the side of her neck. And still Samantha held her, staring into the dying flames.

"Lara, I'm sorry." Samantha whispered into the crown of Lara's head. Her only response was a weak nod and her body snuggling into her own.

"You know… that I will always be here for you." No nod. Sam cleared her throat.

"I… I know you're hurting… We all are. But sweetie, I want you to know that you still have me… No matter what." She continued in a hoarse voice, her throat dry with the unsaid words she was holding back. She felt another small nod against the side of her neck.

"I… I really care for you. You're my best friend… And you know I love you, right?" She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that Lara didn't figure out how much she really meant to her. That kind of revelation at this point in time could be a fucking disaster, to put it frankly.

But there was no nod.

Sam's eyes snapped open and her heart froze in her chest with fearing the worst. But slowly, Lara raised her head and looked dead into Sam's apprehensive eyes. The hollowness still present, but slowly being filled by determination and anger and… something else that confused her. Sam watched the muscles in Lara's neck flex and relax with a thick swallow. Lara shifted so she sat up to support her own weight, but her face remained quite close to Sam's. Long lean legs maneuvered and Lara tucked her left leg in between their hips, her boot shifted uncomfortably under her body. Her bandaged and dirty arms relaxed around the other woman's waist, roughed up hands coming to rest on her hips. Sam smiled weakly and brushed dirty locks of hair out of Lara's eyes, attempting to somewhat secure it behind her ears but it fell back anyways. She tried desperately to force down the nervous butterflies that were roiling in her stomach.

"You love me?" Came the barely audible query.

"I… well yeah. I did say you were my best friend…?" Sam ventured carefully, trying to gauge the young British woman's reaction. Lara swallowed heavily again, her eyes growing curiously dark.

"Yes, you did…" Came the low hoarse reply.

Sam felt heat tighten the muscles in her abdomen when Lara's dark eyes flicked to the bottom lip she was worrying between her teeth. Oh. My God. What was going on? Sam hoped it wasn't just the circumstances that were influencing Lara to do this… If it ever _did_ happen, it had to be real. But her hands didn't listen to her logic as they gently slid down the sides of Lara's neck to rest on her collarbones. A long tense moment passed between the two young women, and Lara leaned forward to rest her forehead head on Sam's. The tips of their noses brushed and they both inhaled sharply, hands tightening on their holds. Sam could feel the heat spike in their bodies and she fought tooth and nail not to do anything stupid.

"Sorry… I'm sorry…" Lara mumbled. Sam felt her frown in frustration and quite possibly confusion, but felt guilty when a wave of relief somewhat extinguished her quickly growing desire.

"No, sweetie, it's okay…"

Lara nuzzled into Sam's right cheek, moaning quietly in pain when her broken nose bumped into the smooth cheekbone. Samantha couldn't help but notice how very… cat-like… her best friend (were they still best friends now…?) was acting. But more importantly, she had never been this forward in her affections. Sure, little hints had been dropped here and there over their long friendship… occurring more recently and close together now than ever before… Not that Sam was complaining or anything… But at the same time, it wasn't the time or the place to act on these feelings that swam in circles behind her eyes and swirled down into her chest. But… oh she was so terribly reluctant to break the moment… what ever this was.

"Sam…" Lara started, finally leaning back to a somewhat respectable distance, but still close enough. Samantha immediately missed her.

"Sam, I'm sorry. I don't know what that was…" She confessed, obviously lying through her teeth. Sam let her lie.

"Don't worry about it right now. We can… we can talk later. After we get home. Okay?" Sam ventured carefully, cradling Lara's face in her hands.

"I… yeah. Yeah, okay." Lara gratefully grabbed the line that Sam threw her.

"Good." She answered and smoothed her thumbs over tanned cheeks. Then leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to the left corner of Lara's mouth, noticing how Lara fought to keep her face from seeking out Sam's mouth.

They stared at each other just a moment longer before Samantha sighed and heaved herself slowly to her tired feet. She accepted the heavy pistol from Lara again who remained seated in the dirt. Sam tried hard not to look at the gap in the ratty tank top, but it was fucking _hard_ to not let her eyes wander. She sighed and ran her fingers through the shaggy chocolate bangs, avoiding the bump on the side of Lara's head.

"Try to get some sleep. Okay, sweetie?" She asked, knowing the request wouldn't be heeded.

"I can try." Lara answered quietly, her dark eyes peering up at the young Japanese woman.

Samantha could only nod in acceptance. She bent and kissed the top of Lara's forehead before trudging off into the dark. She heard her best friend shift and watch her go quietly as she switched the cold piece of metal to her right hand. Her stylish boots scuffed unevenly with her tired slight limp through the dirt, clomping quietly back down the stone steps. By the time she reached the campfire, Reyes and Jonah were sleeping. She gave Alex a half-hearted thumbs up with an appropriate grimace of a smile before laying down in the ferns next to the huge Polynesian man. Unexpectedly, or not so unexpectedly, a wave of exhaustion raced through her tired frame. Never before had Samantha wished so dearly for a night of empty dreams.


End file.
